Pet Peeves

My newest pet peeve involves shopping in a thrift store. Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favor of thrift stores. It means people are donating their stuff instead of throwing it in landfills. It means folks are not regifting the knickknacks to family members who'd just as soon as burn it that put said item in their homes.
Sometimes, solid, well made items can be found in thrift stores. Even brand name gear, worth spending a little more on. I found out the hard way, it does last longer than wally world Chinese junk.
Here is the greater Nampa-Boise metropolis, we had dozens of said shops and I check them out.
I watch for the sales, like when everything (except household, that's a whole 'ball of wax) with a Red tag, or perhaps blue tag is 50 % off. That means I get it around the same price as if I found it at a good garages sale. Problem is, this time of year, few and far between garage sales and my Motorhome needs stuff. I need stuff.

So the peeve revolves around finally finding something decent that is not overpriced (meaning its actually LESS than a similar product at Walmart) and going to pay for it, drag out the wallet and pay with cash--they do this on credit cards as well, I've witnessed such---and they ask : would you like to round this up to help pay for......? Insert any one of numerous store related causes.

All during the holidays, with Christmas music pumping in overhead, I'd generally say sure. But today, I bought something for $2.11. Round it up to $3 ? Why am I shopping in a  thrift store then?

Listen, people. Stop asking us to round up. Set out a tip jar with the cause emblazoned on it. If we feel like putting our change or adding a few bucks we will. After all, the stuff I'm buying was donated and I do know you pay your people minimum wage to put it on the shelf, but give us survivalists on a budget a break.
I hate feeling cheap. Today, I'd had enough and said, "Nope."

Bottom Line Insurance Crap-Warning Rant!

Ok, I'm not going to kid you. I'm baffled and angry about this whole Medical Insurance thing. Don't get me wrong, I have coverage, good coverage on a individual plan. Medical emergencies are the number one cause of bankruptcy.

But its a fallacy, this whole affordable care act.
Yesterday we received three pages of printed material drawing our attention to the pending mandate. YOU MUST buy something, now, or be fined.

Some of us are at that nebulous point....we make a living, but barely. I looked at the website listed on the page. Looks like my premium, for a non-smoker is like....like, no, this can't be right, $700 bucks...is that a YEAR...no, no, its per month.

Wait a minute, can't be right.
Thankfully, I already have coverage.
But, wait a minute, says here because of the new laws, my coverage, the current plan, may actually go up.


Groan. I did some online research. The government page explaining all this would not load. Humm, says in another place, some news story, its been unudated with traffic. Plus, the government has shut down. Great, that's great.

Further research produced this valuable resource. Its run by the Kaiser Family. Seems legit. I don't know.

http://kff.org/

After going through the various links and calculators, I'm left wondering if its better to just say, forget it...I'm broke. I'm not working anymore. I'm going to apply for medicare, or Medicaid or what ever the government expects us regular cooks to do.

This isn't going to be easy.
Part of the problem is greed. Greedy insurance companies. Out of control medical costs. Unhealthy life styles resulting in a sick population.


Please, anyone got some good ideas or help for the common man?